For Vincent Labrune, it is time to take stock. The former president of OM has begun his campaign for his own succession at the head of the Professional Football League (LFP). It is in this context that the 53-year-old leader gave a long interview to the newspaper The Teamin which he defends in particular his management of TV rights. He assures that he saved the furniture with DAZN, which recovered the broadcasting of Ligue 1 for around 400 million euros per year, not forgetting in passing to slip in a tackle to Canal+, which did not wish to participate in the call for tenders.
“The Mediapro episode triggered a very strong resentment from Canal+ against the LFP and the clubs, the consequences of which we are still paying today. The Canal+ group did not participate in the call for tenders and did nothing to ensure that things went well… On TV rights, it is the market that dictates its law. We have been in contact with all the biggest international players. None of them wanted to invest in our League.”assured Labrune.
Labrune: “No one could have done better”
And to add another layer on Canal+: “ We couldn’t do more. The directors of beIN Sports, partners of Canal+, intervened. I myself tried to contact Maxime Saada (the president of Canal+) several times. We even had a meeting that was cancelled at the last minute. The directors of CVC (the fund that invested 1.5 billion in French football) also did everything they could to re-establish dialogue. But at no time did Canal+ wish to participate in this call for tenders as I had planned from the start. I regret that.”
Vincent Labrune simply believes that no one could have done better than him at the head of the LFP. No one could have pushed the market to the limits as we did with the arrival of beIN Sports, which was achieved, in particular, due to the strong relationships of trust between its managers and those of the LFP, he argued. Those who claim that they could have done better are either storytellers or fortune tellers. Nobody could have done better. All sports rights are falling in Europe.”
